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20 CAVALIER CORNER practice together — which is awesome, but this gives a chance to share ourselves a little bit more. "It has given us another way to connect with each other during the pandemic. We will dive back into our most recent book, How Champions Think, once we run out of players sharing their heroes, hardships and highlights." In his eighth semester of hosting "Cul- tural Thursdays," Tiffany has more memo- ries of the moments within the book club than some of the practices. "I remember Mikey Herring standing up that first year when we were going through Legacy and Gates Of Fire," Tiffany said. "It was the willingness for Mikey Herring, who rarely said anything at all, to stand up and make a statement within the context of the book and how it relates to our team. On how we needed to make changes to become a tighter team and to be more vulnerable. "There he was making himself vulner- able. It was a symbolic moment for me because he was someone who's not com- fortable, and yet he really exposed himself. And I use that word, 'vulnerable,' because he truly made himself vulnerable. "That was the 'aha moment' for me, be- cause I knew this is working. We went from hesitancy to share and expose ourselves and our feelings, to now, even one of the quieter men is trusting the group enough to share." Herring, now the offensive coordinator for VMI men's lacrosse, remembers the mo- ment well. "Coach Tiffany fostered a culture of in- clusion early on during his time at UVA," Herring said. "The 'Cultural Thursdays' were a huge part of that. He really pushed for a team environment where as many voices as possible were heard and where underclassmen felt comfortable to share their thoughts and opinions." Another moment that stands out to Tif- fany from "Cultural Thursdays" was the week UVA prepared to face Syracuse at Klöckner Stadium in the semifinal round of the 2018 ACC Tournament. "I certainly think one of the funniest mo- ments was when two of the families did a reenactment of the Battle of Thermopylae, which the book Gates Of Fire is centered around," Tiffany said. "It was the moment the Persians attacked, and Greece was being defended at Thermopylae by the Spartans and several other Greek tribes. "The reenactment I remember involved Jared Conners, Cooper Fersen and maybe Jackson Appelt, and many others, but it was hilarious. One family was the Persians and one family was the Spartans. I remember how they dressed up and had cardboard swords and shields. "It made us all laugh, and obviously it's a very good memory because then a couple days later we beat Syracuse. That was a special moment." The summer of 2018, leading into UVA's championship run of 2019, the team read The Boys In The Boat, which tells the story of the University of Washington crew team that won the gold medal at the 1936 Olym- pic games in Berlin. "It focused on a rower who wasn't the biggest or strongest," fourth-year attackman Matt Moore said. "He just had to grind his way. He wasn't just happy to be there. He wanted to be the best. "It taught us you don't need to be the big- gest or the best. It doesn't matter where you grew up, you just have to have that heart, that willingness. The biggest takeaway was that you have to earn everything. Nothing is given." For a team that won five overtime con- tests and battled countless late-game deficits on its way to the program's sixth NCAA title, and eighth national championship overall, it was the perfect message for the perfect season. Another book that has strong ties to the UVA program is I Hope You Will Be Very Happy by Starsia, the former UVA men's lacrosse head coach and Hall of Famer. It is a book on leadership and lessons from Starsia's lifetime in lacrosse. "The book I Hope You Will Be Very Happy brings me back to when I was a kid," fourth- year defenseman Kyle Kology said. "You What Tiffany started in 2017 as an experiment to change the culture of UVA men's lacrosse has blos- somed into a vital team-building component that has contributed to the program's success. PHOTO BY MATT RILEY/COURTESY UVA ATHLETICS